The Impossible Years
by lyrics-as-name
Summary: It is disgraceful of a Kuja to find out who her father is, but it's the only thing Charlie ever wanted. To be able to meet the man her mother willingly gave her life away in order to birth his child. On her adventure she is confronted with hate and mistrust, loss and exploitation and unconditional true love. But the dark secret about her true origin is a heavy burden.
1. Chapter 1: About Life and Death

On the island of Amazon Lily during a warm summer night each and every woman and child was on their feet the moment their Empress induced labour. The Kuja Tribe was tensed to witness how their strongest and most fearsome fighter would bear her toughest challenge.

The lavender haired woman refused to get any help while walking down the wide corridor, still wearing her straight face, not showing any signs of pain. Now was the time she had to be stronger than ever, accepting her faith for her beloved child's sake. But when an especially painful wave of pain pierced through her she had to take a break and rest on her enormous snake, which was always following her. At least the fanning of the women behind her helped her to keep a little cool. The woman focussed on not loosing her calm, she took a few deep breaths and continued walking. Always caressing her abnormally big belly, bearing in mind for who she going through this pain for.

It was still a weird sight to the Kuja Tribe, seeing their normally slim Snake Empress with such a big belly. But it didn't make her seem less attractive or weak, as she still gave of her usual vibes of confidence and strength. Only an Empress of her caliber could manage such a this as most of the former Empresses had to abdicate as they grew weaker and weaker due to their pregnancy, but this one didn't.

The last few months had been rather hard for the insulars. As their strongest fighter and Pirate captain's sign of pregnancy became obvious for everyone to see, she couldn't join them anymore on their monthly raids and trades to get new goods from the outer world. She became too big of a target and had to stay on the island and guide her crew as good as possible from here. The crew didn't manage to get even half of the goods they normally come back with. So the goods from the outside became less and less and the people became more and more autarkic. But instead of mutinying, the people stayed loyal to their Empress, realizing how dependent they were on her strength.

„What will we do now without Aurélie-sama?"she heard one of the many women walking behind her whisper to another one. It was clear to her that the coming years would be hard ones, but the Kuja's always managed losing one of their Empresses, and now they surely also will.

The pregnant woman continued walking on in her usual confident way. Never letting any weakness through, even though she was feeling the greatest pain she ever did, both physically and psychologically.  
Before she entered the medic's office, to birth her child Aurélie turned around ready to say her final goodbye.

„Where are my girls?" she asked wearing a warm smile, when three girls snaked through the adults' legs, crying and holding each other's hands.

The smallest but oldest of the three girls and first to arrive at Aurélie had long shiny black hair running down her whole back with side-locks accentuating her face. Even though she had a rather high forehead, it didn't make the ten year old girl look any less pretty. It was obvious that she was fighting to keep her emotions contained, but the sadness within her was too great and her dark eyes got filled with tears while snot ran down her nose. The second and youngest girl making her way through had orange, almost golden, long hair with a fringe. She didn't seem to fully understand why everyone around her was crying as she still was very young of age, but being overwhelmed seeing her oldest sister lose her calm, she also began to cry.  
The last of the three sisters to arrive at the Empress had wavy green hair and matching green eyes. Her head was unproportionally big but here on Amazon Lily superficial things didn't matter. As long as you are a brave and strong fighter you are accepted here.

And that the three sisters definitely were. Aurélie was proud of her adoptive daughters, they took this goodbye better than she'd ever expected. Even if they were crying and sobbing, they were still present, bearing with this painful goodbye.  
The Empress got down on her knees, ignoring the agonizing pain streaming through her whole body and put her arms around the three girls in a loving embrace. The sisters were sobbing even louder now, not letting go of their adoptive mother. Even though her big belly was a hindrance to them the young girls still managed to press their wet faces on her chest and neck, holding tightly onto her with their small shaking hands. Although Aurélie was only ten years older than the oldest of the three sisters, it had always been the duty of the Empress of the Kuja Tribe and Captain of the Kuja Pirates to care for the orphaned children of their crewmates. Their mother would be so proud of them‚as they were growing up to be strong and beautiful women. Aurélie did a good job during the time she were a mother to those three.

„Enough now! A Kuja Pirate never shows any weakness! And you three surely want to become Kuja Pirates one day don't you?" she proclaimed in a proud tone to her girls.  
The three of them simultaneously wiped off their tears with the brink of their shirts, imitating the straight and proud face their mother paraded.  
„You girls will be older sisters now. So be brave and strong for your baby sister now,okay?" Aurélie said, kissing her daughters one last time. It was time for her to go now. She felt the baby already fighting to get out.

The tall slender woman got up, straightened her purple dress with yellow spiral snake patterns on it and the white cape she wore over her shoulders, threw her lavender hair back and spoke one last time to her people.

„Sorella and I can manage this birth on our own, I want everybody out of the place until this child of mine arrives safely in our world! Thank you all for everything, I hope I was a good Empress to you all. I will now pay the ultimate price for my selfish behavior. Please take care of my girls and raise them good and strong."

Her golden bracelets jingled as she pushed the door open and entered the medic's office alone, not even letting her giant snake Evia follow her.

The small medic with red hair was still washing her hands when Aurélie entered. Sorella was wearing a lab coat way too tall for her, as it was draggled behind her. Even though she was wearing black boots with a rather high heel, she was still only reaching Aurélie's chest.  
The office itself was rather small, in contrary to the other rooms of the castle, but as this was the Empress' private doctor, and Sorella didn't have to take care of any other person, the space was enough.  
As the crowd standing on the other side of the door silently began to disperse the only noise Aurélie could still make out were the three sister's quite sobs.

„Come on now girls, you heard your mother." she could hear someone say to them.

It broke her heart, no child should lose their mother twice in their life. As she were alone now with her closest friend and first mate of her crew, she was finally able to give in to her emotions. The guilt, the sadness, the anger and joy overwhelmed her. So many lives were about to be changed tonight, everything due to her selfish choice to keep this child. This child of love. Her thoughts wandered to him, the man to whom she would lose her life to, in order to birth his child.  
The child she will never be able to see grow up to be a strong and brave leader to the Kujas.

But this is what happens to you when you are part of the Harpy species. Bearing a child brings a fifty fifty chance with it that the mother will not survive, as the female newborn will be born in it's harpy form, having wings as arms and long birdlike legs with long sharp claws as feet. And being part of the Kuja Tribe means that bearing a male child is out of the question.  
It would have been a wonderful thing though, to have a little boy who would look just like him.

„We can start now. Please lay down and I will try to make this as painless and quick for you as possible." the doctor said pulling Aurélie out of her thoughts.

She was ready now, to give her life in order that this child of love would be able to take her place one day.  
Before laying down on the operation table she turned herself into her harpy form, as she made it her habit to always turn into her true self when she was about to enter a big fight. And this her biggest and hardest fight it was.

Similar to mermaids and mermen harpies were also able to change their forms once reached a certain age. But while the merefolk either had to split or put together their fins, harpies perform a much greater transformation.  
Her arms begin to be covered in feathers which grew longer and longer until there weren't any fingers left, only big and long lavender feathers. She also grew bigger as not only her legs became longer, but also her torso stretched a bit, almost doubling her height. Her muscular and long legs became those of a bird with their now grey color and sharp and long claws as toes. A long feathery tail began to grow out of the lower part of her back, finishing her transformation.

Harpies were the most rare creatures on the planet, as their numbers can only decrease as a female can only give birth to another female, for that reason she had to keep the information of her pregnancy a secret. Male harpies on the other hand look like ordinary humans. Their only feature giving them away as harpies is the piercing yellow color of their eyes with the bull's eye-like iris. But as most humans don't know about the existence of harpies, this single feature won't give you away as one.  
On the other hand, the girls were living dangerously until they reach the age of sixteen, when they are finally able to transform and hide their true self. But here on the island her little girl would be safe from any danger until she would be able to transform and to bring her fighting skills to perfection.

The pain the baby inside of her rambling caused in order to get out faster was so piercing this time she couldn't hold it in anymore, she had to scream in agony. Even though the medic gave her their strongest painkillers, Aurélie had never felt any greater pain in her life before. She knew that it would be painful, as harpies were very hard to kill, but this excelled all of her expectations. Aurélie was drenching in cold sweat and puking up blood, while the medic tried to perform the c-section as fast as possible, relieving her Empress of this unimaginable pain. Aurélie was happy that her medic was capable of even performing a c-section, because having to birth this child the normal way would have been even more painful. Leaving her sliced up from stomach down to her genitalia. At least now the baby's claws are only mincing up her womb and stomach.

Out of the blue the rambling inside of her stopped and the room was filled with loud crying. It was over now, Aurélie's fight was over and she turned back into her human form.

„Quick! Give her to me." the in blood covered exhausted woman whispered, feeling all of her life forces leaving her.

The medic knew that there was no time left to wash the baby off. While watching out for her sharp claws the first mate put out her captain's last order and gave her crying the new-born harpy. The baby was the spitting image of her mother, with feathers having the same color and the same piercing yellow eyecolor.

As soon as Aurélie had her in her arms the little bird-girl stopped crying and looked up to her mother with her big bright eyes, as if she knew that this would be their first and last moment together. She immediately started laughing and grabbing after her mother. That's wehen Aurélie noticed the one thing her daughter didn't have in common with her. She wore his big bright smile.

„She is so pretty. My little Charlie…" the Empress sobbed, tears streaming down her face and into her laughing daughter's face.  
She embraced her tightly giving her one last kiss.

„Please take good care of her, Sorella" Aurélie whispered as she closed her eyes forever.

„Aye, Captain" she answered tears in her eyes, knowing her captain couldn't hear her anymore.


	2. Chapter 2: A Change in Power

A mourning state overcame the entire Kuja tribe which put the whole island on halt. The schools were closed, no one was training in the arena and the market streets were all completely deserted. It was unusual for this island full of life and sound to wear this veil of depressing quietness. Every inhabitant of Amazon Lily was struck hard by the loss of their beloved Harpy Empress and pirate captain. The tribe's palace, which was build into the mountain chain surrounding the village, was the only place that still attracted people. The island's inhabitants were all showing their respects by placing flowers, candles and other little gifts in front of Aurélie's late place of guidance and power.

Even after all the preparations Aurélie took to make her people aware of the probable outcome of a harpy's pregnancy, no one really seemed to willingly accept the fact that their strongest fighter and proud leader really was gone now.  
Not only leaving behind an orphaned spit image of herself, a tiny harpy with porcelain skin, lavender hair, big yellow eyes and huge pastel purple wings, but also three already orphaned sisters and giant footsteps for the next Empress to fill in.

Sorella, the doctor and first mate, kept the promise she made to close friend and took the infant harpy and the Boa sisters in.  
Until the day of Aurélie's funeral the three Boa sisters didn't come out of Sorella's bedroom, which she willingly gave them, so they could grieve by themselves without any foreign intruder bothering them. As Sorella had been living alone to this point in her life, her house was rather small, with only one bedroom and an open kitchen connected to her living room where she spend most of her free time in. Her house didn't have much decoration in it, as Sorella was a rather practical human with simple tastes. But here and there were pictures hanging on the wall or cut-out paper articles where the Kujas were mentioned in.

The house possessed it's own bathroom, wich was a rather rare thing on this island. Due to her rang as First Mate she earned this privileged house. Her living room was rather cramped right now, as not only Sorella herself was sleeping in it right now, but also Charlie whose crib was three times the size of a normal one. But the little harpy needs the extra space due to her large wingspan.

The only real eye-catcher Sorella possessed was her giant wood shelf which took in one whole side of her living room. Since Sorella wanted to become a doctor from a very young age on, she already lost account on how many books there actually were in her collection. The small red haired woman wasn't known for her strong fighting skills, but for the huge amount of knowledge she possessed. It's a rather rare thing for a Kuja child to dream of becoming a doctor, but since Sorella had lost her mother to an unknown disease.

The doctor decided that it'd be better to feed Charlie one more time before leaving to prevent that she'd be crying for food later. After checking that the bottle did in fact have the right temperature Sorella put up one sleeve of her shirt and sprinkled some of the liquid on her arm. After almost doing that mistake of giving Charlie a way too hot bottle, the guardian never forgot to check it anymore. During her precautions Charlie was eying the bottle all the time, her face growing that giant smile of hers as the bottle was flying towards her mouth.

All of this caring for children was new to Sorella, sure she was confronted with them on a daily basis as she was one of the three only doctors the island had, her being the most competent one, but having to care for them at all times, and even having to feed and change a newborn was rather scary to her.

But this precious little creature in her arms always reassured her with her giant and contagious smile that she was doing the right thing.  
„You have no idea what's going on here little one…" Sorella sighed and smiled back at little Charlie.

„It's time to go now girls, or else we'll be late!" she knocked on the bedroom door, waiting for the girls to come out so they could attend the funeral.

The door immediately swung open and three girls of very different statue came out, wearing the black dresses Sorella had picked out for them. Their eyes were swollen and red while their faces were full of matching red streams.  
 _They must have been sobbing the last two days straight. Poor girls…_

As soon as the sisters came out of the room Charlie stopped laughing, which caused Sorella to look at her confused.  
„Are we going or what?!" the oldest of the sisters gave off of her.

„Y-yeah sure." Sorella answered, being ripped out of her thoughts.

She opened the door and off they were.

The whole tribe gathered on the island's graveyard, which was situated on a cliff on the island's coast, to bid their farewells to their late Empress. It was a rather dissonant sight seeing the usually colorful clothed villagers wearing such dark vestments. But the clothes perfectly reflected the inhabitants emotional state. In all of her 27 years did Sorella never see so many, naturally strong and stable, Kujas completely loose control over their emotions. Their loss left all the Amazons in complete agony. Even the Elders who were the most serious ones, were completely overwhelmed by the tribes common distress.

As First Mate it was Sorella's duty to introduce the beginning of the funeral. A big podium was positioned in front of the mausoleum where all of the former Empresses took their eternal rest. The wooden staircase attached to the podium eased the climbing for the rather short red-haired doctor.

Once Sorella's heels made contact with the wooden stairs a wave of complete silence took over the island. Nobody was sobbing anymore, or blowing their nose, no more giving comforting words to one another. Every inhabitant of Amazon Lily's eyes were fixed on Sorella who was caring a sleeping newborn harpy in her arms. A mild autumn breeze blew through Sorella's short red hair, which she wore in a pixie cut, which she took this as a sign, indicating her to start now. Never before having spoken in front of so many people, she took a deep breath and commenced with the funeral's rituals.

„Today is a sad day indeed… A day donated completely to sadness and remembrance.  
Like all of you, I t-too m-miss Aurélie, my b-best friend so much. There hasn't been an Empress like … h-her ever before, her striking beauty and a strength… no one has ever seen before.  
B-but all of us should be happy, happy to be part of this generation who got the privilege to live and fight under Aurélie-sama's reign. We are the ones who have to pass on her strength onto the upcoming generation!"

Getting more and more confident on stage, Sorella's voice mesmerized more and more inhabitants. Still fighting back her tear filled eyes to let go of her tears. She squeezed the harpy in her arms a little tighter to gain strength and continued.

„Now is not the time to loose ourselves, but to become stronger than ever! I know that no one of us right now could fit into the footsteps she left behind… But maybe, maybe we will be the one's to help grow an even stronger Empress…"

While Sorella was actually referring to the feathery infant in her arms, she light up a fire in so many other young girls.  
But a certain black haired girl became more determined than all the others to become a powerful Empress one day.

„I hope my words gave you all a reason to not give up now, but to keep on fighting and become even stronger warriors. Now I will pass on to Elder Eliza, who also has some words of support for you.  
Thank you."

Sorella got down from the podium and took in her seat in the front row, while the first one of the Elders began with her religious rituals. Being one of the rare women on Amazon Lily who possessed some scientific knowledge it was hard for Sorella to believe what the Elder proclaimed that Aurélie would be now. Some magical better place, watching over us all.  
 _Bullshit…_

All the prayers led to Sorella completely zoning out, getting completely devoured by her own thoughts.  
She didn't even realize that they'd already arrive to the last ceremony of the funeral - the proclamation of the next Empress of Amazon Lily. Sorella completely overheard that Elder Marlene, who got the honor to announce the identity of the next Empress, spoke out her name.

After that everything changed so fast. All of Sorella's belongings got moved from her house into the island's palace. Never would ,the rather quiet and distant first mate of the Kuja Pirates, have thought that she would actually be voted the next Empress. But Aurélie must have given the Elders a personal recommendation, whom she saw fit for the position.  
 _Why would you think that I can handle this? You idiot…_

Not only was Sorella proclaimed 348th Empress of Amazon Lily, but due to her promotion she also automatically became Captain of the Kuja Pirates.  
So much power and responsibilities were handed to her in one brief moment.  
However Sorella swore to herself to keep on fighting for her late Captain and make her proud, to honor the position she was handed to.

 _I will take good care of our people and your girls my dear friend._

 ___

 _Sorry it took me so long to update this story!  
But seeing that people are actually interested in it makes me so happy._

 _Sorry, this chapter is rather short and not very interesting, but I needed to put those infos in here.  
The next chapter will come out later as I already have half of it, as I wanted to post more at first in the second chapter.  
But decided that this moment would be a nice moment to do the cut.  
In the next chapter Charlie will grow up a little, but it'll take maybe another 2-3 chapters until she leaves for her adventure._

 _ **Reviews:**  
_ mini consts: Sorry, the story is neither about Aurélie or Hancock. They do play important roles in it, but Charlie is the main protagonist of it! And no, a Dofla x Hancock pairing won't happen. But Doflamingo will be paired with someone, but I won't spill the surprise yet, haha. But I hope that you'll still continue with the story!

Yuuki no Yuki : Love all of your speculations, haha! Guess we'll see if you are right or not! Hope you'll enjoy the story and continue on feeding me with your speculations! It's real fun to see where people think this is going :D


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